New Tactic

I am FED up. my kids rooms are NEVER clean. They ignore me, they wont give me their dirty laundry, which means THEY have to do it. Then they cry and whine, always making ME look like the worst person in the world.

Then they SWEAR they will clean on the weekend. WELL DH takes off, so they spend all the time wiht him either outside or playing baseball or watching Movies on TV that everyone has seen 1,000 times.

So, I told them on Friday, to get their rooms and bathroom clean. My dad is coming in on Thursday. I dont have time to scrub the house, deal with this kid that WONT let go of me, Do my banquet stuff, have baseball 3 nights, and do easter crap for them.

They have managed to ignore me. Only washing thier own blankets, sheets and stuff. Not even the clothes all over their floor.

My house literly STINKS because of them.
My dad has to sleep in that room.

SO. come Monday I have a plan. I have done the 'throw it all away' crap. doesnt work. They drag in more. OR their birthdays are so spread out that they get more. Plus, they are at the type where the toys are not a big deal. They will just go out and play cowboys and indians with sticks.
or chunk rocks at each other and play baseball.

They dont have TV's-- dont watch mine unless BR is home on the weekends and then its a movie, dont have game systems, etc.

SO, Monday I plan on taking EVERYTHING out- down to bare beds. I will leave each one a sleeping bag, 2 pairs of jeans, 2 pairs of socks, 2 pair of underwear, 1 pair of shoes and 2 shirts. Oh and one towell.
That is IT.

They will wash them or wear them dirty. THey will wear the same clothes 2-3 days a week to school, They will sleep on the floor, because they dont respect the beds I have given them.

I am tired. sick and tired.
Its bad enough its THEIR rooms. BUT it bleeds out into MY hallway behind my couch. AND the bathroom is just as bad. at least a pair of shoes, 3 pair of jeans, countless underwear, socks and towells are on the floor. that is the only bathroom accessable to anyone who comes here.

My living room right now can not be walked through. seriously. and its not but 2 toys of Bows in the floor. its boots, and jeans, and jackets, and tennish shoes, and hangers, and backpacks. I live in fear everyday that someone will come to visit me. I honestly do. Because not only do I not want to have to clean this all up. I dont have the time. I have had 4 kids. and this one is by far the most clingy. if he is NOT in my lap, he is INTO something.
If I go outside to talk to the mail lady, he climbs up on the windowsill, pulls the ventian blinds apart and peice by peice shoves them into the fish tank.
If I go to pee, he cleans out a cabinet of bowls and tupperwear. Resulting in me haveing to wash them all because I have dogs, and a stupid retarted cat. Dont even get me started on the cat hair.

anyway, I dont know if this will work, but I am going to try it. I reckon they will either learn, or someone will call CPS on me. Either way, I will have some sense of relief.

I did this! Years ago when my daughter was in high school. I took everything out of her room and put it in rubbermaid tubs. I allowed her 10 things plus the furniture, and a mattress with sheets and blanket. Her 10 things basically had to be spent on her coat, her backpack with school books for school, a couple sets of clothes (I allowed 5 days worth), and a few choice items. I told her that if at the end of the week she had kept her room clean I would allow her 5 more things, but if I found anything on the floor it was going back in the tubs, she had to find a place for them. The next week I allowed her 10 more things. If she begged that she needed something, I told her she could earn it back by doing a chore I picked. After about a month....she didn't care if she got anything more back. I allowed her access to the tubs to see if there was anything she couldn't live without, and she found maybe 5 more things, the rest went to goodwill. She hated me for a few weeks, but when the month was over she was a happy kid, relieved of the responsibility of 'stuff' she didn't use/want, and her room was realistic again.

Stick to your guns girl, it works!

I did this too, and it worked!\
I left them beds, 4 days worth of clothes each, sheets, and pillows. School stuff was put in a box, and they had to "earn it back". Ia lso took the doors off thei bedrooms, earn them back or do without. I can say both my kids are very organized, clean people now.

I would totally do the same. So far threatening has worked but I wouldn't hesitate for second. I am mean though and think you really need to break out the camera for the expressions on their faces when they see it all GONE.

W.O.W.!! I love this idea! I'm fed up w/ my girls doing this as well!!

I might have to try this.....

I don't have the nerve. Scott and I have too much stuff, too, LOL. But I am about to go through and winnow out a lot of the stuff they don't use. I try to do this a couple of times a year and just thin things out and also share some of our blessings with those who are in need. I have let it slide too long this year and I really, really need to take about 25-30% of all the toys and clothes out of the house. There are so many shirts they don't wear, clothes that don't look good any more, toys that don't get played with. I really, really need to just have a week (or a month) to sort it all out.